Reviews of Teas & Herbal Teas from Japan
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Sencha Superior from Rishi Tea
Style: Sencha – Region: Shizuoka, Japan63 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 2/5
Nov. 3rd, 2010
Brews a clear golden color, less opaque than most Sencha. Aroma seaweedy and vegetal, and only slightly grassy. Relatively smooth flavor, with a little astringency and bitterness. Overall this is a very typical sencha. Nothing about it stands out.
Rishi's brewing instructions result in a cup that on the weak sid...
Bancha from Rishi Tea
Style: Bancha – Region: Kagoshima, Japan81 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 5/5
Oct. 30th, 2010
I found this tea to be very different based on how it is brewed.
The light, flat quality of the dry leaf reminds me of dragon well, but the similarity ends there. This tea brews a very clear greenish-yellow color. Regardless of how strongly you brew it, it comes out completely transparent: there's almost no opacit...
Organic Japanese Sencha from Two Leaves and a Bud
Style: Sencha – Region: Japan47 / 100 Aroma: 3/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 2/5
Oct. 18th, 2010
This tea was interesting; I brewed it for 3 minutes at 180 degrees. I found it was only good for a single infusion, which is why I settled on 3 minutes. Longer steeping made it too bitter and strong for me, and many people may like a shorter infusion.
Two Leaves and a Bud describes this as "brisk", and I think thi...
Kukicha Green Tea from Arbor Teas
Style: Kukicha – Region: Japan77 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5
Sep. 22nd, 2010
Very fresh, more vegetal aroma than most kukicha I've had. Liquor is exceptionally clear, flavor is exceptionally smooth, sweet even. Less twiggy, yet also less sencha-like. Very mild, but very pleasant. Very little astringency.
This is not the most complex tea I've had, but it's certainly very balanced. Beside...
GOLD GENMAI-CHA Brown Rice Tea from Maeda-en
Style: Genmaicha – Region: Japan50 / 100 Aroma: 4/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
May. 30th, 2010
A fairly strong, but light aroma, mostly of popcorn, a sort of light, toasty quality. Much less nutty than other genmaicha's. Very little tea presence in the aroma, even using a generous quantity of leaf and brewing longer than recommended. Flavor has an oddly strong savory (umami) quality...almost no bitterness and...
Read Full ReviewOrganic Ho-ji Cha Kamakura from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Hojicha – Region: Kanagawa, Japan70 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
May. 13th, 2010
Noticeably different from TJ40...more heavily roasted (tending toward the dark side among all hojicha's I've tried)...very dark brown cup. The aroma is not overwhelmingly roasty, however...there are still a few of the fresh green tea tones present.
Flavor is sour...which I don't like, although there's also a hint o...
Japanese Ku-Ki Ho-Ji Cha (Roasted Ku-Ki Cha) from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Hojicha – Region: Japan77 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Apr. 23rd, 2010
Aroma powerful and enticing like a dark roast coffee. This tea foams when brewed, and the brewed cup is clearer and lighter in color than you'd expect from the aroma and dark color of the twigs. Unlike some kukicha, this tea seems to be made exclusively out of twigs with not even a bit of leaf.
Surprisingly, relat...
SEN-CHA Green Tea from Maeda-en
Style: Sencha – Region: Japan57 / 100 Aroma: 3/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5
Apr. 17th, 2010
Aroma mostly of sweet corn. There's a hint of roast in there too...but it's not always pleasant...it almost resembles the stale coffee aroma you get if you run hot water through a coffee machine that hasn't been cleaned in a while. Slightly sweet and also with some pleasant bitterness, and very little astringency. T...
Read Full ReviewRoasted Tea Hoji-cha (16 ct.) from Yamamotoyama
Style: Hojicha – Region: Japan63 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5
Mar. 9th, 2010
These teabags are strong, with a generous quantity of leaf. The roast is noticeable but light, and this hojicha has a fresh, crisp quality, more like green tea. It's not terribly complex, but overall, I think this is a very good tea that offers outstanding value, especially among teabags.
These teabags are versati...
Organic Hojicha from Traditional Medicinals
Style: Hojicha – Region: Japan57 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Mar. 7th, 2010
On the heavily roasted and dark side, more coffee-like in aroma and fewer of the green tea qualities come through. Good, but not terribly complex.
There also isn't the most generous quantity of leaf in the teabag. The company recommends 8 oz. of water per teabag, and a long infusion. I brewed it this way and it w...
Organic KuKi Cha Green Kamakura from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Kukicha – Region: Kanagawa, Japan73 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Feb. 10th, 2010
The aroma of the dry tea is straw-like, but the brewed tea is a lot more like sencha, including a hint of the characteristic seaweed-like quality. In many ways it's typical for a Japanese green tea. There are a few woody tones in the aroma but they have a very different character from the woody qualities present in s...
Read Full ReviewJapanese Supersencha Kamakura from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Sencha – Region: Kanagawa, Japan83 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Jan. 26th, 2010
This one surprised me; Upton threw it in as a free sample. I probably would have not bought it on my own because of the price, but now that I've tried it I think it offers pretty good value, although it is still expensive.
When brewed, this tea is opaque, less so than matcha but more so than most other sencha that ...
Japanese Ho-ji Cha from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Hojicha – Region: Japan73 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Oct. 14th, 2009
A rich roasted aroma, fairly mellow flavor, with only a little bitterness. Exactly what I would expect of this style. Some hints of the freshness of green tea remain. Moderate level of roast. A few mildly objectionable tones in the aroma...hard to describe...like a slight stale quality (even though overall the tea ...
Read Full ReviewOrganic Hojicha from Mighty Leaf Tea
Style: Hojicha – Region: Japan77 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5
Sep. 26th, 2009
This is without a doubt my favorite tea from mighty leaf and one of my favorite hojicha's that I've tried--definitely my favorite that's available bagged.
The aroma is rich and roasty and has some nuances. There's a bit more bitterness than some hojicha's, which I like, but there is little astringency or sourness; ...
Japanese Green Tea from Kirkland Signature / Costco
Style: Green Tea – Region: Japan27 / 100 Aroma: 2/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 2/5
Aug. 30th, 2009
After generally being impressed by the quality of Kirkland's other products, I was disappointed by this tea.
The aroma was weak and stale; there was little complexity and in particular, none of the fresh grassy or vegetal tones that characterize many Japanese green teas. The flavor was weak too.
I found the brew...
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